Daley’s daily routine leads to results

published by ikhan on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 11:10

Mumbai, India – Allrounder Shanel Daley believes she is in the best form of her cricket career and is going all out to make the most of it when she puts on the Number 31 shirt for West Indies in the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup.

Daley, an experienced left-handed middle-order batter and left-arm spinner, has so far played 41 One-Day Internationals and 45 T20 Internationals since her debut in 2008. She was named Player-of-the-Series in the Twenty20 Series win over South Africa at Beausejour Cricket Ground last week.

“I had a good series against South Africa and that has given me a new kind of confidence with the World Cup starting in a few days. I have a big role to play for West Indies as an experienced player,” Daley said. “Things have been going well for us in the team. We beat India and Sri Lanka at home last year and also did well in Sri Lanka at the World T20 last October. We bounced back brilliantly to level the (One-Day International) series against South Africa and then we outplayed them in the T20s.”

Daley said she made some significant changes in her game and overall approach which have paid dividends. Acting on the recommendation of Head Coach Sherwin Campbell, she switched from left-arm medium-pace to left-arm spin and is now in the Top 10 bowlers in ODIs and at Number 2 in T20s. However, it was Campbell’s advice about improving her fitness which led to a career-changing “total makeover” for the hardworking Jamaican.

“My game for the past four years that I have been representing West Indies has improved a lot. When I started my fitness was really poor...I was not up to the standard to play at the international level and to perform on a consistent basis,” Daley said.

“The coach spoke to me and I had a chat with the trainer Shannon Lashley and she gave me a programme which I follow on a daily basis. It has helped immensely, you need to be very fit especially when you’re out there batting as well as when you’re in the field for long periods. It all comes down to fitness – the fittest of the fittest will survive,” she said.

Daley, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Christmas Day last year, is the daughter of former Jamaica allrounder Aaron Daley. She has made 687 runs at an average of 22.9 runs including three half-centuries in ODIs. She has also taken 51 wickets at 18.13 runs each, including best figures of 4-29. She backed the West Indies bowling attack to do very well on the pitches in India.

“We have some really good spinners...we also have a very good pace attack, but the spinners tend to dominate in women’s cricket at the moment. We talk about what we want to do as a group and we back each other to execute,” Daley noted.

“We always get together and plan –how to bowl to a particular team as well as to players within that team. It is paying off for us, we have been doing very well in the last few years. We have grown a lot as a team in a very short space of time, but there is a lot more work to be done. We will continue this and take that kind of spirit into the World Cup as we face some of the ‘bigger’ teams.”

Daley is one of the most versatile members of the Windies squad and has been used in every batting position – from Number 3 to Number 8. She has also bowled the new ball as well as at the ‘death’.

“I like the challenge of performing both roles in the team. It’s not really pressure on me, it’s more rewarding the faith the coaches and my team-mates have placed in me. I enjoy bowling at the top and bowling to the best batters in world cricket. I enjoy batting in India and I did well with the bat the last time we played here. I will look to do well again. I always look to bat for long periods and build an innings. With the ball, I look to build pressure on the batters and force a mistake.”

The West Indies had a full training session on Saturday and will have another session on Sunday at 1 pm. They will play their first unofficial warm-up match against Australia on Monday. West Indies are in Group A alongside defending champions England, hosts India, and Sri Lanka. Group B will include Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.